Google Shopping is one of those eCommerce platforms that has shaped the presence of multiple companies, startups, and brands. The online platforms that allow businesses to top the Google search results without fighting their way off the organic listings have been one of the latest trends in the market.
However, this great opportunity for businesses is not easy either! When selling your products over Google Shopping, you should keep in mind that your product data or Google Shopping data feed will be a leading factor in driving sales for your business.
While some lucky people manage to create the perfect feed for their business by working on the first try, most of them have difficulty assessing the different elements of their feed and coming up with a perfect one.
Yes, it certainly isn’t rocket science, but it can be very tricky when you are trying it for the first time or have made a blunder in the process of creating your feed. Therefore, this might be your ultimate solution to the question of ‘how to create a google shopping feed?’.
But first, let’s understand what a Google Shopping Feed is!
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What is Google Shopping Feed?
Google Shopping feed is like your spreadsheet around products that helps the search engine to understand and organize the products in your online store, as it is mentioned in the catalog. In other words, the Google Shopping data feed is a composite of all the data around your product.
Why is it called a data’ feed’?
The Google Shopping data feed is called a ‘feed’ because the algorithms require you to continually feed the data around your products to Google to maintain an updated product data. This way, Google has a tab on actions like whenever you have made changes to a product price, its name, availability, category, URL, or image.
For example, your product feed is like a directory that you submit to Google to allow it to keep a tab on all the updates in your store. Remember, Google has to keep an eye on millions of users; therefore, you need to stay in touch with an updated directory of all the information around your store to hit sales.
Wondering why to take the pain of updating feeds? Well, here’s the answer:
The Google Shopping campaign algorithm works differently from the traditional Search campaigns that generally occur to look up something on Google. In the case of Google Shopping ads, the advertisers have no control over placing their ads but can bid on relevant keywords for showcasing their ads over the SERP.
Say you are the owner of an apparel store, and the keyword “men’s fashion” seems very likely to bring in sales for your line of business. Therefore, you bid for that keyword to integrate it with your product feed.
Now, the crawler at Google crawls your websites and navigates through the feeds to determine all the relevant ads to be showcased in response to the search query (Remember you had earlier bid on a keyword that you think is relevant).
This way, besides Google doing it’s crawling to represent relevant results around your store, you save its efforts by providing your own set of keywords and boost the chances of popping up in places of interest.
However, everything explained above will not function unless you have created an error-free Google Shopping feed. Let’s check out what it is, the elements involved, and how to create one!
What is an Error-Free Google Shopping feed?
An error-free Google Shopping feed follows all feed specifications and best practices laid out by the platform. While it might sound like a mammoth task, it certainly isn’t! All you need to do is follow up on some basics and optimize your Google Shopping Feed’s main elements.
Wonder what they are? Let’s have a walkthrough around the essential elements that are your first step to the question, ‘how to create a Google Shopping feed?‘.
Product Title
Ideally, the first thing that the visitors lay their eye on, your product title, is the blue hyperlink that you notice at the top of your Shopping Ad.
Considering the impact that it will have on the visitors, it is always advisable that you use a product title that is short, crisp. It precisely describes the product that viewers are enticed to know more about the product.
Now, it should be noticed that Google showcases up to 150 characters limit to describe your product. However, the twist in the tale is that you don’t generally see the complete 150 characters you have written for your product. Therefore, make sure that you use the most important keywords at the beginning of the title, as Google will often show only the first 35 characters.
Considering the impact that it might bring to your sales, it won’t be wrong to say that product title is one of those product attributes that have the largest impact on sales.
Tip: Make sure that you use your product feed title for SEO benefits by using high-density keywords and avoid promotional text on them.
Product Image
Product images are the images you put up on your feed (the image that does the job of enticing the customers by showing them images for their query).
Considering the fact that Google Shopping is similar to all the other eCommerce web stores that are focused on selling products with a special focus on product images, you need to ensure that you understand your product images nicely.
The reason? The better you follow the guidelines of Google, the better you place product images on your feed. Therefore, you should always try to develop a precise high-definition image for your feed, preferably 800px x 800px.
However, in a situation where you are using multiple images, make sure that you use the additional_image_link attribute to come up with an error-free feed.
Further, we suggest that you shoot your main image on a white background and avoid adding any extra logos or image text, this way, you would be violating the guidelines by Google.
Tip: Have you ever checked out the current search results of a product?
You must’ve noticed how several products have the same image. The reason is that often the drop shippers use a similar image that is supplied by the manufacturer. Now, here might be your chance at standing out, try using a different angle to capture the image or go for a different color of the similar product with another color.
Product Description
Your product description is the second hyperlinked line that you will notice after the product title. Like how you have dealt with the product title, you surely wouldn’t want to create an error with this one.
In a jist, your product description is a description that explains everything about the product once the viewer clicks on your ad from the SERP. This description comprises all the important product details that a customer wants to know (dimensions, color, variants, features, and terms of usage).
While your product description doesn’t show up on the search results, it is one of the most highlighted sections of your shopping portal for all the right reasons.
Now, while you are writing a product description for your store, you will be provided with 5000 characters as the threshold limit, out of which only a limited portion of the info can be viewed in a jist. Say, Google shows only about 175 characters of your product description on the search result page, whereas the seller’s website contains the remaining.
Tip: None of the users scrolling through the internet for products will care to go through the entire 5000 character limit description. Therefore, we suggest you push all the essential and relevant information smartly.
And although the rest of the product description will not be visible over the result page, it comes in handy for the Google crawler to pick up on different keywords to analyze which search results will be relevant to appear for.
Lastly, similar to what we advised for title description, avoid using promotional text!
Product Category
Your product category has got nothing to display with the front-end of your ad. However, this is strictly a backend attribute.
Wonder why it’s important?
Your product categories are important as Google takes them into consideration while segregating the different products present in Shopping Ads and populating them in the Shopping search results.
Interestingly, your product categories are an important part of your Google Shopping feed as you need to sort your product by category to make it eligible for advertisement.
However, under a situation where you don’t provide the category attribute in your feed, Google decides to do it automatically by guessing the product categories.
Now, if you are planning to put up your ad over the platform, it should be understood that allowing Google to decide your products’ categories is like giving it the right to place your ads in its way. The results could be a waste of your ad spend as it might provide your ads in all the irrelevant places.
On the other hand, if you plan to supply the data yourself, you can use the predefined values provided in the Google Product Taxonomy list.
Tip: If you are setting up a product category, don’t just settle for the highest level category; try to be specific with your product placements. Here’s an example of how it should work:
Example: you’re selling a jersey for cycling:
Dont follow the traditional category placement: Apparel & Accessories > Clothes > Activewear
Try to be as specific as you can be: Apparel & Accessories > Clothes > Activewear > Swimming Activewear > Swimming Costumes
This way, you are improving your visibility.
Lastly, when you are dealing with bundled products, go with the category that is the most appropriate.
Product Type
Let’s put it straight for you, your product type is another shot and backing your product title with Google. A similar backend attribute, your product type, helps the search engine determine relevance, and it is optional to choose from.
While it might be skipped, we suggest you work on it to create an error-free product feed.
One interesting fact about sorting your product categories is that you won’t be limited to categorizing your feed on Google. You are free to create a number of your subcategories to allow a seamless organization process.
Tip:
While you are trying out the product type for your feed, make sure that you include the full string.
Let’s understand the one with an example of a store where you sell swimsuits. So, your options are:
Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Activewear > Swimming Wear> Swimming Suits > Synthetic Fabric
Or,
Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Activewear > Swimming Wear > Swimming Suits > Nylon Fabric.
Now, this sums up all the necessary elements that you would require to create an error-free feed for your Google Shopping. We know your next step is to do something similar for your Shopify store. Guess what? We can sort it out for you!
If you are one of those users who prefer to do things in a faster, more convenient manner or deal with thousands of products over your eCommerce store, pulling up the task manually might be an excellent turn-off for you. Yes, we understand the problem.
What if we suggest an automatic feed generator app that creates your feed and helps you optimize it?
Yes, it’s possible with the AdNabu app.
This app utilizes a similar website crawl program as of the Google Merchant Center and helps extract all the necessary product information from your website to automatically create product feeds.
Here’s a step by step process on how you can create an error-free Google Shopping feed for your Shopify Store, using the AdNabu app:
How to Create an Error-Free Google Shopping feed for your Shopify Store?
Step 1: Login into your Shopify store and move to the Shopify App Store to install the AdNabu app.
Step 2: Integrate your Shopify store with Google Merchant Center.
Step 3: Allow all the necessary permissions required by the app to sync in with the feed data for your Google Merchant Center.
Step 4: It’s time to monitor the generated results using an easy Google Shopping feed app.
Congratulations, you have created an error-free Google Shopping feed for your Shopify store!
For more information on feed generators for Google Shopping Feed, click here.
Conclusion
You might spend much time picking up the best of products for your eCommerce store. However, your efforts will not bear the results if you haven’t strategized your product feed properly. We hope you will be able to curate an error-free product feed for your Google Shopping. All the best!
Key takeaways:
- Google Shopping feed is like your spreadsheet around products that helps the search engine to understand and organize the products in your online store, as it is mentioned in the catalog.
- The Google Shopping campaign algorithm works differently from the traditional Search campaigns that generally lookup on Google. Focus on your product feed.
- Now, while you are writing a product description for your store, you will be provided with 5000 characters as the threshold limit, out of which only a limited portion of the info can be viewed in a jist.
- If you plan to put up your ad over the platform, it should be understood that allowing Google to decide your products’ categories is like giving it the right to place your ads in its way.
- Your product type is another shot and backing your product title with Google. A similar backend attribute, your product type, helps the search engine determine relevance, and it is optional to choose from.
